Ryan has been a lecturer at the Department of Human Movement Science since 2010 and has lectured both under- and postgraduate students in sport coaching, evaluation methods, and motor control and learning. In addition to lecturing, he was the Sport Science honours programme coordinator and is currently managing the Mandibaz High Performance Complex. His research field of interest is perceptual-motor control and learning from the cognitive neuroscience and neurophysiological perspectives in the quest to understanding the acquisition, performance and retention of motor skills.
Ryan also holds a VU University Amsterdam NRF Desmond Tutu Doctoral Scholarship, where he is currently investigating the visual perception of deceptive action in sport using common-coding theory. Ryan is passionate about developing the critical thinking skills of students through research and to date has successfully supervised 29 treatise and 9 Masters students to completion. Furthermore, Ryan has published in international journals, presented his findings at international conferences and acts a as reviewer for a national journal.
Designation:
Senior Lecturer
Email:
ryan.raffan@mandela.ac.za
Contact Number:
0415042518
Faculty:
Health Sciences
Department:
Human Movement Science
Qualifications:
MA HMS, PHD
Professional Memberships:
N/A
Orcid ID:
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8526-5099
NRF Rating:
N/A
Research Interests:
-
Motor performance and learning, skill acquisition, cognitive neuroscience, talent identification and development.
Current non-degree Research Projects:
-
Anticipation in cricket using situational probability information.
Current Final Year Undergraduate/Honours Research Projects:
-
Talent selection practices in field hockey.
Number of currently supervised Masters and PhD candidates (2023 to 2024):
Research Output 2023 to 2024:
-
Raffan, R., Mann, D.L., & Savelsbergh, G.J.P. (2023). Skilled deceivers are better action perceivers and vice versa. Human Movement Science, 89, 102073.
-
Raffan, R., Mann, D.L., & Savelsbergh, G.J.P. (2024). You can’t con a conman: the perception of deceptive actions performed by the self and others. International Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 22(2), 517-532.
-
Raffan, R., Mann, D.L., & Savelsbergh, G.J.P. (2024). Expertise and deceptive movements in sport. Sports Medicine-Open, 10, 73.
Current Research Collaborations within your Department or Discipline:
N/A
Current Inter-Disciplinary/Multi-Disciplinary/Trans-Disciplinary Research Collaborations:
N/A